Katrina Naish

About the practice

A certified social enterprise using hands-on workshops and practical skills education to shift how communities think about — and act on — textile waste and fast fashion. The problem they are tackling The fashion industry is one of the world's largest polluters — and fast fashion has made it worse. Australians buy an average of 27 kilograms of new clothing each year and send 23 kilograms to landfill. Most of it could have been repaired, repurposed or rehomed. Most of it never gets the chance. A Fitting Connection was founded by Katrina Naish on the belief that education and practical skills are two of the most powerful tools we have in response to this crisis. Not lectures — lived experience. Not awareness campaigns — actual workshops where people leave knowing how to do something differently. "The best way to change someone's relationship with clothing is to put a needle and thread in their hands." What they do A Fitting Connection delivers workshops and programs centred on textile waste, fast fashion, mending and upcycling — tailored for the audience in front of them, whether that's a school, a council, a library, a corporate team or a community group. Their workshops typically open with an honest, accessible conversation about textile waste and the real cost of fast fashion — where our clothes come from, where they go and what happens in between. From there, the session moves into hands-on skill building: learning to mend a garment instead of discarding it, transforming something worn-out into something newly loved, or upcycling a piece of fabric into something useful and beautiful. The combination is deliberate. Understanding the problem creates motivation. Learning the skills creates agency. Together, they create lasting change. The skills they teach Mending is at the heart of A Fitting Connection's skills offering — from simple visible repairs that celebrate the history of a garment. They teach sashiko-inspired stitching, darning, how to attach a button, and simple stitching methods so you can fix almost any minor garment issue - once common skills and, with their help are all now making a powerful comeback as people push back against throwaway culture. Upcycling workshops go further, showing participants how to look at what they already own and see possibility rather than limitation. A worn shirt becomes a tote bag. A pair of jeans becomes something entirely new. The goal is not just a finished project — it's a shift in how people see and value the textiles already in their lives. Reduce Reuse Remake Reimagine Recycle Who they work with A Fitting Connection brings their workshops to the places where communities already gather. Schools receive programs that introduce young people to making and mending as genuine life skills — and to the environmental reality of the clothes they wear every day. Councils and libraries host community workshops that reach residents of all ages and backgrounds. Corporates engage with sustainability education that is tangible, participatory and memorable in a way that a slide deck rarely is. Programs are designed to be accessible rather than prescriptive — meeting people at their skill level and their level of engagement with sustainability, and moving them forward from there. Beyond the workshops A Fitting Connection is also the organisation behind The Fabric ReStore — Melbourne's first dedicated secondhand store for fabric and sewing supplies — where donated, unused textiles are given a second life in the hands of makers across the city. It is a practical, daily extension of the same mission: keep textiles valued, keep them in circulation, and keep them out of landfill. Between the workshops and the ReStore, A Fitting Connection has built something rare — an organisation where education and action exist in the same space, and where every program, every class and every donated bolt of fabric is part of the same larger story.